U.K.News

Britain sought to extend by five months the period for allowing a new devolved government to be formed in Northern Ireland, but parties in the province saw little hope a two-year deadlock would be broken.

Women don’t need new laws to protect them, just for the existing laws to be properly implemented

The domestic abuse bill currently going through parliament is set to add new powers to deal with perpetrators of domestic abuse, but there are already a wide range of powers available to police that are simply not being used.

In fact, the level of protection has declined dramatically over the past two years, since changes to the pre-charge bail regime in April 2017. These introduced onerous requirements on the police when bail is granted and it seems that officers are avoiding these by releasing suspects without bail and using voluntary interviews instead of arrest.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday a short delay to Britain's departure from the European Union would give parliament time to make a final choice on Brexit, hours before she will make her case with EU leaders for an extension.

Author of His Dark Materials acclaimed as ‘a magical spinner of yarns’ who appeals to all ages – especially children

Philip Pullman has won the JM Barrie award, a prize to mark a “lifetime’s achievement in delighting children”.

The annual award is given by the charity Action for Children’s Arts, which campaigns for all children to have access to the arts, and celebrates work that will stand the test of time. ACA chair Vicky Ireland said Pullman was chosen by the charity’s trustees for his outstanding talent as a storyteller who appeals to all ages, especially to the young.

A shareholder meeting at which Ashley wanted to oust all but one Debenhams director and install himself as chief executive has been delayed by up to two weeks, after Sports Direct was forced to reissue its requisition notice calling the meeting.

British comedy "Only Fools and Horses" ran for decades, drew the biggest home audience yet for a TV episode – and has smashed box office records with a West End musical version that resonates in a nation riven by Brexit and yearning for simpler times.

Exclusive: body parts of endangered animals among those imported through legal loophole

Lion bones, leopard skulls and an ottoman chair’s elephant leather were among the body parts of endangered animals imported into the UK by trophy hunters through a loophole in international law in 2018, the Guardian can reveal.

The government is facing renewed calls to ban trophy hunting imports of endangered species after 74 rare animal body parts were legally brought into the country by hunters last year, including hippopotamus teeth, elephant ears and crocodile skins.

One of the UK’s biggest suppliers of toilet and kitchen roll has been stockpiling about 3.5m rolls in UK warehouses in preparation for a no-deal Brexit.

The German firm Wepa said it had been storing an extra 600 tonnes of toilet and kitchen roll in the last three to four months to safeguard supplies in Britain, in case the UK crashes out of the EU without an agreement on 29 March.

The March 29 deadline for leaving the European Union is looming and with no Brexit deal yet approved by parliament, it is expected to be a tumultuous few days in which several different outcomes remain possible.

Bank warns of increasing risks for economy because of impasse over UK’s exit from EU

The Bank of England has warned that continuing Brexit uncertainty and the prospect of further delay until the summer is serving as a handbrake on the economy, as it left interest rates on hold.

Amid signs that the political turmoil is increasingly taking its toll on business investment decisions, paving the way for weaker economic growth in future, the Bank’s nine-member monetary policy committee (MPC) voted unanimously to leave interest rates at 0.75%.

European Union leaders must show flexibility on Britain's Brexit plans given the "chaos" currently reigning in London, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said, adding that Britain would have to give a valid reason for the time extension it was seeking.

Rising above Sheffield station, the buildings of the Park Hill estate reach optimistically towards the sky – a hulking relic of the utopian housing schemes of the 1950s and 60s. The new musical by Sheffield musician Richard Hawley and Chris Bush is an ambivalent ode to those idealistic dreams, tracing a line from hopeful first tenants to dilapidation and gentrification.

Ben Stones’ austere design places three overlapping timelines in the same ghostly grey flat, its unadorned surfaces evoking the brutalist concrete outside. In the 1960s, Harry and Rose are among the first to excitedly walk the streets in the sky, embodying the hopes of postwar social housing. At the close of the 80s, Park Hill is a drab and decaying sanctuary for Joy, a young Liberian refugee. And in 2016, the newly refurbished estate provides a blank slate for southerner Poppy, fleeing heartbreak in London.

Doc Price, 86, talks about seven decades in the business – and how inking has moved from subculture to mainstream

Doc Price is 86, but he still remembers the first tattoo he ever saw. It was a blue butterfly on the back of a sailor’s hand. “I thought, how magic is that? That you can make something that is put on somebody else’s skin for ever.”

He also remembers the first one he had done. Darrell Price, as he was then, was walking down Bute Street in Cardiff, aged about 13, when he saw a sign for tattooing in the window of a cafe. Inspired by the butterfly, he went in. The tattooist was called Billy Knight (whose daughter Jessie would go on to become a leading tattoo artist – and many years later tattooed an eagle on Doc Price’s arm). That first tattoo – a common first inking that cunningly incorporates an antidote to parental disapproval – was the word Mother. Doc Price remembers his mum’s reaction: “You haven’t been ta … oh yes, that’s lovely!”

Extending Britain's departure date from the European Union would only be a "sticking plaster" if deep-seated issues are left unresolved, City of London financial district chief Catherine McGuinness said on Thursday.

EU leaders will tell Theresa May on Thursday she can have two months to organise an orderly Brexit but Britain could face a hugely disruptive ejection from the bloc next Friday if the prime minister fails to win backing from parliament.